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Published: January 17th 2009
Hi Everybody!
We are currently in Auckland, New Zealand on the North Island. The city is located in a spectacular location between two harbors and is surrounded by 50 extinct volcanoes. We got here on Friday and immediately started exploring the city. We are staying in the center of town and can walk to many of the attractions. The city has several different types of bus lines that are easy to use. We walked to the Victoria Park Market and found lots of interesting shops/stalls. We caught a city-link bus to the Auckland Museum. My sister-in-law, Joyce, had told me how wonderful it was, and she was right. It had 3 main exhibits dedicated to the wars that New Zealanders have participated in, the Maori Culture, and the colonization of New Zealand. The museum was located in a charming section of the city, the suburb of Parnell. Walt got off of the bus on our return and visited the Harley shop. On Saturday, we went across the street to the Sky Tower, the highest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. I rode up to the top and watched people do the adrenalilne-pumping Sky Jump. The views were spectacular! We decided to spend the rest of the day inland seeing the countryside. We bought bus tickets to Hamilton, a city of 50,000 people, that was approximately 2 hours away. While on the bus, we noticed how neat and well kept the homes were. They were fairly close to each other. Once we got out of Auckland, we started seeing dairy, sheep, and horse farms. The only crop that we saw was corn. As you scanned the horizon, you could see the ring of volcanoes. Many of the small hills were also cone shaped. The countryside was beautiful and very hilly. For some reason, NZ reminds me of Alaska. The homes in the countryside look to be functional instead of pretentious. When we got to Hamilton, we took a walk along the Waikato River. The word Wai means water in Maori. We stopped at a small Italian restaurant for lunch. The owners were very friendly and informative. The husband was the chef and the wife helped on weekends. She actually worked for the NZ prison system as a psychologist. She told us that she had grown up on a dairy farm which her father still runs - now with only 190 cows. She said most farms had between 1000- 2000 cows. I discovered that many scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy had been shot in this area of NZ. We enjoyed going into the shops. They had a $2 Shop and we found gifts for Karen's students (Walt's daughter.) The trip back to Auckland passed quickly. We talked non-stop to an interesting nursing student from upstate NY. She is in Auckland working as an intern. She loves to travel like us and had been to a couple of the same places - Prague and Tallin. Another seatmate was a young 12 year old girl who was on summer break. She had spent a few days visiting her grandmother. We learned lots from both of them. I think that is my favorite part about traveling - meeting so many interesting people. We will board the Celebrity Cruise Ship, Millennium, this afternoon and head south. We will be traveling along the eastern coast of both the north and south island of NZ. Then, we will head to Melbourne and Sidney, Australia.
Take care,
Everette
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Karen
non-member comment
New Zealand is one of our favorites!
Hi Everette and Walt, Eric and I are soooo jealous! We love NZ and Australia. I could live in the South Island!! We have sailed twice with Celebrity, including the Millenium.... great ship; enjoy!! We r in NOLA for my brother's girlfriend's 50th! Good food.... good times! Safe travels. As always, I can't wait to read your next blog!!! K Ray